Any other Wizard of Oz fans here?

judyfromkansas

New member
Hey, everybody! Just wondered if there are any Wizard of Oz fans here. I recently rented the Oz film from my local library. Hadn't seen it since I was a kid, and I fell in love with it all over again. What a fantastic movie!!! So magical, and the costumes and effects aren't dated at all - indeed, the cyclone scene is still incredibly convincing. And the music...superb. Judy Garland was amazing. I sure wish she'd had a happier life...

As for Oz books, my faves are "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and "The Marvelous Land of Oz". My LEAST favorites are anything written by Gregory McGuire. Just can't get into them, although I respect their success.

So, again, any other Oz fans here? Any other Followers Of The Yellow Brick Road? :)
 
I've never read any of the books, and have only seen the 1939 Oz. In fact, it's on TCM right now in honor of Judy Garland's 90th b-day, but anyway...

It was my favorite movie as a kid, and I used to obsess over it. I own the soundtrack, and still know [most] of the lyrics by heart. It's a movie that never grows old.
 
I've never read any of the books, and have only seen the 1939 Oz. In fact, it's on TCM right now in honor of Judy Garland's 90th b-day, but anyway...

It was my favorite movie as a kid, and I used to obsess over it. I own the soundtrack, and still know [most] of the lyrics by heart. It's a movie that never grows old.

Hi, Aravis! Nice to talk to you again!

Wow, I didn't know TCM was doing a tribute to Judy Garland today. 90th birthday, wow...she was only 47 when she died...sad story. But at least on the Oz movie, she was a happy healthy teenager of 16. The "little people" who played the Munchkins had nothing but good memories of her. I saw a documentary about the film not long ago, and the surviving Munchkins called her an angel, and said she was sweet as she could be. She bought them a HUGE box of candy for Christmas, and put it on the yellow brick road, and said "Sweets for the sweet". She also autographed pictures for all 100+ of them, and gave them all a grand tour of her new on-set trailer. It's too bad she got hooked on drugs thanks to MGM, who gave them to their stars - even the children - to keep them revved up for all of the movies they had to make. Maybe she would have lived to be an old lady...ah well.

I sometimes wish the Narnia films had the same childlike wonder and humor and magic of the Oz film...they had some nice moments, but I've never been wholly satisfied with them, for some reason...
 
Seen/Purchased the 1939 Oz on every medium from VHS to BluRay. Read the "Making Of" and yes, the original book in the series, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".

You may find it interesting to know that Baum was in a doctor's office waiting for his appointment when he noticed the filing cabinet of case jackets...the drawers were marked "A-M" and "O-Z". Yep, that's where the name came from.

And yes, I get a laugh every time I see the MGM movie and the Wicked Witch of the West says "They won't put up a struggle. I sent a little insect ahead to take the fight out of them!" A reference to the cut "Jitter-Bug" number.

Gotta love that film.
 
I don't care for the movie, but I've seen it a few times.

I'm a HUGE fan of the book series, though. I actually collect the books, antique originals, and this month I finally got the last one so I own them all. They're so imaginative and adorable. Love them to pieces.:D
 
And yes, I get a laugh every time I see the MGM movie and the Wicked Witch of the West says "They won't put up a struggle. I sent a little insect ahead to take the fight out of them!" A reference to the cut "Jitter-Bug" number.

Gotta love that film.

You know, it took me a really long time to catch that slip. It's a shame the number was cut...but they should have edited that line out. Or something.

Not to mention, the length of Dorothy's hair irks me because in one shot it will be long, in another it'll be short, then long, then short....virtually every shot of her (with her hair in braids), her hair is a different length. Who wouldn't notice that?!

But regardless, I still love the movie.
 
I am a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz series. I have read all of the books written by L. Frank Baum and even the one's that weren't written by him ever since I was a kid, and loved them all. I remember seeing both the 1939 movie and the second one done by Disney in the 80s. Both were truly remarkable, fun-filled fantasy and family fun. It's good to see other fans on this forum.

I recently acquired some of the Oz books on my kindle and I didn't have to pay a dime for them. I also read some books about both of the movies, and had some figurines growing up. I have a Dorothy nutcracker and a Scarecrow figure landing on the Yellow Brick Road. I own both movies on dvd.
 
I haven't read any of the books, but I re-watched the Judy Garland movie recently and I like it.

The only thing I don't like is the ending. The "it's all a dream" thing is depressing for me.
 
The only thing I don't like is the ending. The "it's all a dream" thing is depressing for me.

That's exactly why I don't care for the film; it was such a cop-out to make it all a dream (and this coming from a person who actually enjoys the Dream Season of Dallas :eek:).

In the book(s) it's all supposed to be real, like Narnia or Middle Earth. That's why I love them. :D
 
That's exactly why I don't care for the film; it was such a cop-out to make it all a dream (and this coming from a person who actually enjoys the Dream Season of Dallas :eek:).

In the book(s) it's all supposed to be real, like Narnia or Middle Earth. That's why I love them. :D

It's just like...

she had this whole fantastic adventure and made these lovely friends and beat the bad guys and has learned a valuable lesson about the importance of home. And then NONE of it is real.

I should get around to reading the first book sometime. It wouldn't take me very long.
 
It's just like...

she had this whole fantastic adventure and made these lovely friends and beat the bad guys and has learned a valuable lesson about the importance of home. And then NONE of it is real.

I should get around to reading the first book sometime. It wouldn't take me very long.

Exactly. It was so wrong. I keep hoping someday the film will be remade and be more truthful to the books (not being a musical and having a younger Dorothy as well as the original ending would do wonders for it), but since the film is so much better known than the book I doubt it would happen. :rolleyes:

Oh, the book is wonderful. So are all the others written by Baum. <3
 
I think the whole "It was only a dream" thing was MGM's way of exiting the franchise with only one movie. That, and the need to deal with what was left behind.

There is a poignant and true story of Hollywood's most staggering coincidence. Professor Marvel was supposed to wear a coat that was "pretentious yet showed that he had seen better days." They needed just the right coat to fit Frank Morgan and looked through costuming without luck. Then they tried to borrow from another studio...no luck. They made the round of thrift stores...no luck. Finally they went to a pawn shop and found just the right coat. They tried it on Frank Morgan and it fit perfectly! SALE!

After they got it back and wanted to clean it, they found a pawn ticket in one of the pockets. The jacket was L. Frank Baum's own jacket that he pawned to buy his last prescription medicine. :(

So when you see Professor Marvel, you're seeing a bit of L. Frank Baum.
 
I think the whole "It was only a dream" thing was MGM's way of exiting the franchise with only one movie. That, and the need to deal with what was left behind.

Not to mention...the movie was MGM's most expensive; besides, in 1939, were franchises really even all that popular movie wise? I can't think of one movie franchise that was started that early...it seems like the sequels, trilogies, etc. were all reserved for a more modern era. Personally, I think you're cheating yourself if you diss the movie because it happens to be different from the book. The film, unlike some adaptations [ :rolleyes: ], is well made and well worth the watch. And I believe it's Judy Garland's finest movie. Just a shame her life got ruined.
 
Franchise in the modern sense...no. But think of the series of Sherlock Holmes movies starring Basil Rathbone. At the beginning, at least, they were all from different stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not to mention Universal following up Frankenstein with Bride of Frankenstein or Dracula with Son of Dracula. It happened, just not as frequently as it does today.
 
Not to mention...the movie was MGM's most expensive; besides, in 1939, were franchises really even all that popular movie wise? I can't think of one movie franchise that was started that early...it seems like the sequels, trilogies, etc. were all reserved for a more modern era. Personally, I think you're cheating yourself if you diss the movie because it happens to be different from the book. The film, unlike some adaptations [ :rolleyes: ], is well made and well worth the watch. And I believe it's Judy Garland's finest movie. Just a shame her life got ruined.

They were many franchises - Nancy Drew made four films in the mid-30s, Andy Hardy had multiple films, and so on.

I simply don't feel it's a good adaptation and that it's caused people to forget the books ever existed. And I love some films that are nothing like the book - it's all in how good the film is to me. And, personally, I feel it's overrated. Just imo and I'm not trying to offend anyone who likes it..I realize I'm probably the only person who doesn't.

I'm not a Judy Garland fan in the least but I agree that her life was tragic. Her best film, imo, was A Child Is Waiting.
 
Those of you who want to read the Oz books - you MUST read the second in the series - "The Marvelous Land of Oz". It's an Oz book like no other. For one thing, it's one of the FUNNIEST books of the series; in fact, it's one of the funniest books I've ever read. L. Frank Baum was inspired by the portrayal of his Scarecrow and Tin Woodman by vaudeville entertainers Montgomery and Stone in his Oz Broadway play, and as a result, the prose he wrote for "The Land" is sharp and wry and witty. I'm sorry to say that the Oz books that followed "The Land" aren't nearly as well-written (in my opinion); Baum was involved in too many projects to focus on Oz as much as he should have. But "The Land" is marvelous indeed. Its only flaw is that neither Dorothy or the Cowardly Lion are in it, although they *are* spoken of. But the new characters, like Jack Pumpkinhead and the Sawhorse, almost make up for that lack. Anyway, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Don't miss it!
 
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I think the whole "It was only a dream" thing was MGM's way of exiting the franchise with only one movie. That, and the need to deal with what was left behind.

There is a poignant and true story of Hollywood's most staggering coincidence. Professor Marvel was supposed to wear a coat that was "pretentious yet showed that he had seen better days." They needed just the right coat to fit Frank Morgan and looked through costuming without luck. Then they tried to borrow from another studio...no luck. They made the round of thrift stores...no luck. Finally they went to a pawn shop and found just the right coat. They tried it on Frank Morgan and it fit perfectly! SALE!

After they got it back and wanted to clean it, they found a pawn ticket in one of the pockets. The jacket was L. Frank Baum's own jacket that he pawned to buy his last prescription medicine. :(

So when you see Professor Marvel, you're seeing a bit of L. Frank Baum.

I've looked up that bit of trivia, and yes, it's TRUE! It's been notarized and confirmed by people who worked on the film, and by the Chicago tailor who made the jacket. Isn't that amazing? One more bit of trivia: the date on the death certificate for the Wicked Witch of the East brandished by the Munchkin Coroner is the exact same date of L. Frank Baum's death. Was it done purposely or was it just another eerie coincidence? Nobody can say for sure...
 
Yeah that was the dream part was what I liked least about the movie too. Dorothy knows its not a dream, and she will not consent to people telling her that it was. I like the Dorothy in "Return to Oz" is more of the age of Dorothy in the books. Some things like that make me wish they never made books into movies at all. But since it was a good adaptation through the other parts I can deal with that, and know how the real ending is. I was afraid when I first read Harry Potter that the series would end like that, but the more I got to know JKR's writing style, and her way of elements of surprise I knew that it wouldn't.
 
Yeah that was the dream part was what I liked least about the movie too. Dorothy knows its not a dream, and she will not consent to people telling her that it was. I like the Dorothy in "Return to Oz" is more of the age of Dorothy in the books. Some things like that make me wish they never made books into movies at all. But since it was a good adaptation through the other parts I can deal with that, and know how the real ending is. I was afraid when I first read Harry Potter that the series would end like that, but the more I got to know JKR's writing style, and her way of elements of surprise I knew that it wouldn't.

About Dorothy's adventures in Oz being just a dream in the 1939 movie...yeah, that bugged me too, especially when I was a kid. I wanted the Scarecrow and Tin Man and Cowardly Lion to be real, darn it! But the reason the Oz trip is just a dream is because MGM was afraid that it would just be too fanciful for adult audiences, and it was already nervous enough because it feared that the movie would be perceived as being just for kids and therefore not very profitable. The movie wouldn't have been made at all if it weren't for the success of Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", which assured MGM that a fairy-tale movie COULD make money (as "Snow White" certainly did).

As for "Return To Oz"...I didn't like that film at all, I'm afraid. I mean really, Dorothy gets electro-shock treatments???? That was not in ANY Oz book, I assure you. And the whole film just lacked warmth and any real magic in my opinion. And now Disney is about to make a new Oz film called "Oz the Great and Powerful", and while some of the concept art I've seen from the film looks neat, the plot, where the "wizard" arrives in Oz and one of the Witches tries to seduce him...doesn't sound very promising. :p Maybe it'll be better than it sounds...but....well, we'll see...
 
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